Weekly Update

Greetings from Tyler,

There used to be some professions you could trust, within reason.  Medical doctors and scientists were above reproach.  They went to school and learned things the rest of us would just as soon not have to deal with.  But that earned them the lofty titles, and the respect of nearly everybody.

But it seems they are not immune to greed.  Doing the right thing comes with a hefty price tag, and nobody it seems, wants to rock the boat.  There’s enough money to go around if they won’t make waves.  Prominent doctors and scientists can become rich if they’re willing to spout the narrative.

We’ve seen basic rights curtailed, with untold implications. The government, state, federal or whoever, can mandate nonsense against your will?  It was in contravention of everything it means to be an American, but then you might die.  If you don’t comply, you’re probably a danger to all with whom you come into contact.  Fear was brought in to herd otherwise free Americans.  You’ve seen the examples of the businesses who lost it all on account of the “recommendations” of some national or international agency of repute.  Who did we think we were, daring to question the “science?”  If there’s anything you dare not question, it’s the accumulated knowledge of the highly educated.

It looks from here like they’ve squandered their credibility.  Do you think any scientists are employed who don’t pay lip service to global warming?  Are any doctors making a living on disputing the conventional wisdom on Covid?  Maybe two are.  When scientists and doctors lose their credibility…  We’ve been told whoppers by the anchors on national networks.  We’ve been fed a steady diet of the company line, and realized the networks are carrying water for the pharmaceutical outfits.  And government officials.  Maybe you’ve noticed.  Television funding comes from the advertisers.  Have you seen how many medical ads are playing?  Are they going to bite the hand…?

This has been a pretty rich week.  Watching the Attorney General of the United States playing dumb for all to see.  There was hardly a prosecution over looting and burning, all the uncivilized behavior we watched in horror.  But, if you’re in the public domain, you better not air any disagreement with the powers that be.  No, the agencies always apply the law without regard to any political influence whatever.  Complete with battering rams and swat teams.  The most dangerous thing you can do is disagree with the exercise of government power.  It’s enough to make you sick.  

There’s no end to the weapons and money we’re sending to Ukraine.  All but airplanes.  Every few days there’s another announcement of unfathomable sums awarded.  The pretender giving bear hugs to the recipient.  We witnessed the incongruous visit by Janet Yellen to award yet more, and then there were the clips.  “As long as it takes,” was uttered by all the top people.  Kamala’s intonation was real dramatic.  East Palestine, Ohio is flyover country as far as the bigwigs are concerned.  But Ukraine!  

The list of the goods squandered in Afghanistan has been published.  You can’t believe your eyes.  It’s mind boggling, and it goes on page after page.  Dozens of airplanes, helicopters, Humvee’s, tanks, millions of rounds of .50 caliber ammo, all the latest stuff.  Not to mention the airbase, one of the most sophisticated on earth, and our army evacuated in the most humiliating display since Saigon.  

If we don’t live in an age of mass deception!  Even when the masses have most of the corruption figured out, the media is there to tell us otherwise.  There’s not a chance we’re as dumb as the media make us out to be.  But so far, they keep banging on.  They apparently can’t admit their part in the deception.  

For two or three years it would get you banned from social media if you suspected the wrong thing in public.  Any difference with the vaunted “experts” would wear the label of “disinformation.”

So the head of the F.B.I. comes out and casually states that Covid may have come from a Chinese laboratory.  That kind of talk would get you suspended from social media until recently. He didn’t admit that Fauci funded it,  but he did.  What?  Yeah, no big deal.  You could get kicked off any number of media platforms, with government lawyers making the decisions, if you were to surmise such a thing.  

Hopefully sooner or later, we’ll find out what really went on.  It’s not pretty.  It feels like much that we hold dear is under attack.  Suddenly, the U. S. is getting its nose bloodied all around the world.  The mainstream tries to explain, but anybody can see this is not good.  It’s starting to look like “our national leaders” are not on the side of America. 

Mark

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The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – March 3, 2023 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Smith’s appointment came three days after Trump, a Republican, announced plans to run for president in 2024.

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The post Attorney General Merrick Garland names Jack Smith special counsel in Trump criminal probes first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Biden spoke from the Rose Garden Thursday morning, announcing new gun control measures that target ghost guns, red flag laws, pistol-stabilizing braces, and other issues.

He said he wants Congress to do more than offer “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of gun violence.

“They’ve offered plenty of thoughts and prayers, members of Congress,” Biden said, “But they’ve passed not a single new federal law to reduce gun violence. Enough prayers, time for some action.”

Because substantial changes to gun laws have always met fierce Republican resistance in Congress, Biden said he asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to prioritize gun violence and help him with concrete actions the president could take without Congress.

President Joe Biden speaks during an event on the American Rescue Plan in the Rose Garden of the White House on March 12, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Biden first spoke of regulating ghost guns, which are homemade firearms that often lack serial numbers authorities would use to trace them. They’ve increasingly turned up at crime scenes, and federal agents have found them in undercover purchases from gang members and other criminals.

There’s no federal requirement for ghost gun buyers to undergo a background check, but Biden’s actions would change that.

Biden said he’ll also tighten regulations on pistol-stabilizing braces. The president said the brace makes the pistol more lethal and “a hell of a lot more accurate.” He wants to designate pistols with the brace as short-barreled rifles, which would require owners to have a federal license.

The braces came under scrutiny last month after a gunman allegedly used a braced pistol to kill 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado.

RELATED: Boulder King Soopers shooting: 21-year-old man to be charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder

That shooting, along with shootings at three Atlanta-area spas that left eight dead plunged the U.S. back into a gun debate that has dominated American politics for years.

Part of Biden’s action asks Congress to pass an appropriate national red flag law that would allow family members or law enforcement to petition for a court order temporarily barring people in crisis from accessing firearms if they present a danger to themselves or others.

And he hopes Congress will incentivize states to pass similar laws. Biden praised the House for passing bills that would close loopholes in America’s gun legislation.

The gun show loophole allows buyers to purchase a gun from a gun show, where background checks aren’t required. The Charleston loophole allows guns to be purchased if the FBI hasn’t completed a background check within three business days. And the boyfriend loophole allows physically abusive ex-boyfriends and stalkers with previous convictions to maintain access to firearms.

Democrats control both chambers of Congress, but the slim Senate advantage likely wouldn’t be enough to pass the bills that would end the loopholes.

Republicans are expected to oppose many, if not all, of Biden’s measures. The party has positioned itself as defender of the Second Amendment and tried to paint the opposition as gun confiscators. Before he went into his plans, Biden dismissed the notion that his measures were a threat to the Second Amendment — calling it a “phony argument.”

While enhanced background checks are generally popular with the American public — even with some conservatives — Congress has so far not been able to find compromise on gun control as a whole, thus the president’s reliance on executive action.

“Universal background checks are supported by the vast majority of American people — and I might add the majority of responsible gun owners,” Biden said. “Let me be clear: This is not a partisan issue among the American people. This is a view by the American people as an American issue. And I’m willing to work with anyone to get these done.”

But of all the ideas Biden presented, the removal of gun manufacturers’ immunity to lawsuits sits closes to his heart, he said.

“If I get one thing on my list, the Lord came down and said ‘Joe, you get one of these,’ give me that one,” Biden said. “Because I tell you what: There would be a come to the Lord moment these folks would have real quickly.”

RELATED: House passes bill to expand background checks for gun sales

Thursday’s news conference also served as an introduction of David Chipman, Biden’s nominee to direct the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Chipman is a former federal agent and adviser to the gun-control group Giffords. He spent 25 years with ATF where he worked to stop a trafficking ring that sent illegal guns from Virginia to New York.

Gun-control advocates have long stressed how crucial the director of the ATF is in enforcing gun laws. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, lauded Chipman as an “invaluable point person” in the fight against illegal gun trafficking.

Feinblatt also applauded Biden for his upcoming gun control measures.

“Each of these executive actions will start to address the epidemic of gun violence that has raged throughout the pandemic, and begin to make good on President Biden’s promise to be the strongest gun safety president in history,” Feinblatt said.

This story was reported from Atlanta. The Associated Press contributed.

Source: https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/enough-prayers-time-for-some-action-biden-introduces-executive-orders-on-gun-control

The post ‘Enough prayers, time for some action’: Biden introduces executive orders on gun control first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

President Biden on Thursday announced a set of executive actions and legislative proposals on gun control, saying that gun violence is “a public health crisis” and the administration’s actions do not contravene Second Amendment rights.

The administration aims to “confront not just the gun crisis but what is actually a public health crisis,” Biden said in his remarks in the Rose Garden. He was joined by Vice President Harris.

“Nothing I’m about to recommend in any way impinges on the Second Amendment,” Biden said. “These are phony arguments suggesting that these are Second Amendment rights at stake from what we’re talking about.”

Continuing, Biden said: “But no amendment to the Constitution is absolute … From the very beginning, you couldn’t own any weapon you wanted to own. From the very beginning the Second Amendment existed, certain people weren’t allowed to have weapons. So the idea is just bizarre to suggest that some of the things we’re recommending are contrary to the Constitution.”

BIDEN TO TARGET ‘GHOST GUNS,’ STABILIZING BRACES IN NEW GUN CONTROL ACTIONS

In attendance were several high-profile gun control activists, including Brady United president Kris Brown, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., and Fred Guttenberg.

An administration official detailed the actions to reporters on Wednesday. Among them, Biden is asking the Justice Department (DOJ) to propose within a month a rule to stop “ghost guns,” which are “kits” people can buy legally to assemble a functioning firearm that does not have a serial number.

Biden is also asking the DOJ to propose within 60 days a rule on braces used for handguns, which make them more accurate; to propose action on “community violence intervention”; to publish suggestions for “red flag” legislation; and is asking his administration to issue a report on gun trafficking.

Biden also formally announced David Chipman as the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

A senior administration official Wednesday said that Chipman will respect the Second Amendment while he enforces gun laws.

President Joe Biden speaks about the economy in the State Dinning Room of the White House, Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“I’ve seen with my own two eyes what a bullet can do to the human body … and I’ve fought my entire career to fight this violence and to pass reasonable gun safety measures,” Harris said as she introduced Biden.

“What are we waiting for? Cause we aren’t waiting for a tragedy… We’ve had more tragedy than we can bear,” she said. “The solutions exist… people on both sides of the aisle want action, real people … so all that is left is the will and the courage to act.”

The Biden administration is also expected to throw its weight behind gun control proposals in Congress.

“Enough prayers, time for some action,” Biden said of Congress. “I believe the Senate should immediately pass three House-passed bills to close loopholes that allow gun purchases, purchasers, to bypass the background checks.”

BIDEN ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT: ‘NO AMENDMENT IS ABSOLUTE’

He also pushed for two gun control laws that would go even further than that.

“We should also ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in this country,” Biden said. He said “there’s no reason” a person would need a weapon that can hold “100 rounds.”

“We should also eliminate gun manufacturers from the immunity they receive from the Congress,” Biden said, referring to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), a law that prevents gunmakers from being sued for crimes committed with guns they sell legally.

“This is the only outfit that is exempt from being sued,” he continued. “If I get one thing on my list… give me that one because I tell you what there would be a come to the Lord moment these folks would have real quickly.”

Vice President Harris meets virtually with community leaders on the COVID-19 public education efforts in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 1, 2021. (Leigh Vogel/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Some of Biden’s claims during the press conference are regularly disputed by Republicans, including that gun manufacturers can’t be sued and that background checks aren’t required at gun shows.

Indeed, the PLCAA only protects against suits for “harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products or ammunition products.” This does not count, for example, if a gun is defective or if a gun was knowingly given to a person who is banned from possessing one.

BIDEN TO NOMINATE GUN CONTROL BACKER DAVID CHIPMAN TO HEAD ATF: WH OFFICIAL

Further, the “gun show loophole,” as it is known, is not actually about gun shows. All federally licensed commercial dealers, at gun shows or not, must conduct background checks. But federal law permits some non-commercial sellers who don’t need to be licensed to sell guns without conducting background checks. These sales sometimes happen at gun shows.

Republicans, meanwhile, have expressed their suspicion of Biden’s agenda which goes even further than what he announced Thursday.

“By appointing the anti-gun Merrick Garland as attorney general and nominating David Chipman — formerly a senior staffer at the leading gun control lobby —  to head ATF, Biden has made clear his sights are set on restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners while ignoring criminals and foregoing substantive measures that will actually keep Americans safe,” the National Rifle Association (NRA) said in a statement.

“Further, the proposals Biden announced tonight could require law-abiding citizens to surrender lawful property and enable states to expand gun confiscation orders. The NRA will fight this nomination and ill-conceived executive actions,” the NRA also said.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., added: “President Biden plans to announce his attempts to trample over our constitutional 2A rights by executive fiat. He is soft on crime, but infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens. I won’t stand for it. And neither will House Republicans. Follow the Constitution!”

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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said, “The answer is not to restrict the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, the answer is to go after violent criminals and come down on them like a ton of bricks.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland also spoke at the event. He said that gun control is needed to prevent further “tragedy” from gun violence.

“We stand here today not at a moment of tragedy but in the midst of an enduring tragedy,” Garland said.

Brady United, one of the highest-profile gun control groups in the U.S., billed Biden and Harris as “the strongest gun safety ticket in history” at an event last fall.

“President Biden’s actions are historic and they will have an immediate impact. These are tangible and powerful policies that will save lives,” Brown said of the president’s executive actions in a statement Wednesday.

Fox News’ Brittany De Lea, Sally Persons and Kristina Biddle contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-guns-remarks-executive-actions

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